A federal election for the second Reichstag of the German Empire was held on 10 January 1874. The National Liberal Party remained the largest party in the Reichstag, with 147 of the 397 seats. The Centre Party, which had campaigned against the anti-Catholic laws introduced by the government of Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, was able to double its vote total from the previous election and placed second. The Conservative and Imperial Liberal parties lost the most seats.
Historical background
The most significant political event to affect the 1874 election was the start in July 1871 of the Kulturkampf (Cultural Struggle), an attempt to suppress the political power of Catholicism in Germany. Chancellor Otto von Bismarck feared that Catholics' loyalty lay more with the Vatican than Germany, and many liberals saw the Catholic Church as politically reactionary. Although the majority of the anti-Catholic laws affected only Prussia, they were nevertheless a major concern for all German Catholics since Prussia accounted for about two-thirds of the German population.
One of Bismarck's chief goals in the Kulturkampf was to break the Catholic Centre Party. Catholics made up about one-third of both Prussia's and the Empire's population, and the Centre Party, which had been founded only in December 1870, had placed second in the 1871 election with 58 seats. Catholics were most heavily concentrated in the Imperial Territory of Alsace–Lorraine, which had just been won from France in the Franco-Prussian War, in Bavaria, Baden, and the Prussian provinces of Rhineland, Westphalia and heavily Polish Posen.
Electoral system
The election was held under general, equal, direct and secret suffrage. All German males over the age of 25 years were able to vote except for active members of the military and recipients of poor relief. The restrictions on the military were meant to keep it from becoming politicized, while men on relief were considered to be open to political manipulation. The constitutional guarantee of a secret vote was not safeguarded at the time, since ballot boxes and polling booths were not introduced until 1903.
If no candidate in a district won an absolute majority of the votes, a runoff election was held between the first- and second-place finishers. It was possible for a replacement candidate to be introduced in a runoff.
Results
The major gainers in the 1874 election were the National Liberal Party and the Centre Party; losses affected primarily the Conservative Party and the short-lived Imperial Liberal Party.
Rather than suppressing the Catholic vote, the Kulturkampf served to consolidate political Catholicism. The Centre Party more than doubled the number votes it had received in 1871, from just under 708,000 to over 1.4 million. It was the most votes of any party, although the Centre won 56 fewer seats than the National Liberals. Such a result was possible under the Empire's electoral system if a party was more successful at winning majorities in individual districts and/or won more runoff elections. There were 46 runoffs for the 397 seats in 1874.
1874 was the first year that representatives from Alsace–Lorraine were elected to the Reichstag. All 15 opposed the German annexation of the region.